It’s not a fact, it’s not forever, it’s just a feeling

Life is full of epiphanous moments and cinematic crystallizations where everything becomes clear in our minds and it changes our world forever.

Sadly, there’s only a finite amount of them. Not every milestone we cross is going to feel like the climax of the whole cosmic drama of creation.

Oftentimes, things unfold slowly and quietly in the form of the slightest swing.

Ask any entrepreneur your know. As diligently as they work to develop and launch their new projects, it’s anticlimactic when their ideas finally reach legitimate business status.

Months and months of buildup, and then one day, the thing just exists in the world.

There it is. Congratulations. Now go out and sell the damn thing.

Having been in this situation dozens of times in my career, I can attest to its emotional complication. There’s part of me that feels disappointed when there’s no alarm, as if to shake my fists at the sky and yell:

Wait, where’s my choir of angels? What about the parting of the skies? No glorious moment with fireworks and banners and trombones? Come on, how about a voice from a burning bush telling me to persist in the face of adversity?

Another part of me feels relieved at the silence, as if to exhale a cleansing breath and say:

Oh thank god this goddamn albatross finally shipped out the door. Now I can move on to the next project and never think about this thing again. Peace out.

Still another part of me wrings my hands in determination at the silence and says:

Well, okay then, time for the real work begin. Let’s get out there and tell people why they should care about this new project. Because it’s going to change the world if I have anything to do about it.

Ultimately, whatever emotional reaction we experience when we finish our work, what’s helpful to remember is that it’s normal, healthy and valid.

There are no right or wrong ways to feel upon our work’s completion. How we feel is how we feel. It’s not a fact, it’s not forever, it’s just a feeling. It doesn’t dismiss the value of our results, nor does it discredit the labor it took get there.

Which milestone are you building up inside your head? What if you abandoned expectations about how you were supposed to feel?

It’s funny, the day that my software as a service platform went live, it was undoubtedly thrilling. Pumping my fists in the air, woohooing at the top of my lungs, I felt vital and proud. My developer and I even enjoyed a celebratory pizza on the rooftop of his building to reflect on our accomplishment.

But honestly, after six months of toiling away at our software, all of my epiphany credits were already cashed out. All of my fears, hopes, doubts, joys and furies had already been released.

At that point in the project, all I wanted to do was plop my head on the pillow and experience the sweet satisfaction of creative overextension. The divine feeling of being flattened tired from working on my wildest dreams.

It was a lot subtler than banners and trombones, and that was okay with me.

How has your emotional experience of finishing your work evolved along with it?